Free-flow electrophoresis and hydrodynamic focusing
OwnerMatthew Ryan COURTNEY, Tomasz GLAWDEL +2inventors
InventorsMatthew Ryan COURTNEY, Tomasz GLAWDEL, Carolyn Liqing REN, Oscar Manuel CARRENO-MOLINA
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Abstract
A free-flow electrophoresis apparatus introduces a pressure-driven flow laterally through the sidewalls of a separation chamber. A neutral solute is hydrodynamically focused by the lateral flow before being collected through an outlet at a bottom of the chamber. Meanwhile, charged solutes are removed from the neutral solute stream by application of an electric field. As a result, the neutral solute is both concentrated and isolated from a complex mixture. This purification technique is also versatile, as a pH of the separation medium may be chosen to match a pI of the desired solute.
Claims14
A free-flow electrophoresis device comprising:
- a separation chamber comprising a sample inlet, and a plurality of outlet ports comprising a collection port and at least one waste port;
- lateral flow inlets provided at opposing sides of the separation chamber;
- pumps respectively coupled to the sample inlet and the lateral flow inlets operable to flow fluid containing a first solute and one or more second solutes in a first flow direction extending from the sample inlet to the outlet ports, and to flow the flow fluid from the lateral flow inlets into the separation chamber in a second flow direction transverse to the first flow direction toward a transverse middle of the separation chamber;
- and
- at least a pair of electrodes respectively disposed at or near the opposing sides of the separation chamber and operable to generate an electric field transversely across the separation chamber.
A method for separation of a first solute in a fluid from one or more second solutes in the fluid, the method comprising:
- flowing the fluid containing the first solute and the one or more second solutes through a separation chamber in a first flow direction extending from a sample inlet of the separation chamber to a plurality of outlet ports of the separation chamber comprising a collection port and at least one waste port;
- flowing the fluid into the separation chamber through lateral flow inlets provided at opposing sides of the separation chamber in a second flow direction transverse to the first flow direction toward a transverse middle of the separation chamber;
- generating an electric field transversely across the separation chamber;
- controlling a pH of the fluid containing the first solute and the one or more second solutes to match an isoelectric point (pI) of the first solute and to mismatch respective pI's of the one or more second solutes;
- and
- flowing all or substantially all of the first solute through the collection port and all or substantially all of the one or more second solutes through the at least one waste port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.